than parasitising the shrub. I assume the stump is still moist from deep in the soil,
although the top is parched and dusty. People ask me whether these huge brackets are
poisonous, to which the answer is no, but you would need very strong teeth and jaws to
get anything useful from them!
Did you feel the earthquake at 1 am on 23rd September? I know it is not exactly wildlife,
but our Club includes geology, and my brother and his wife certainly felt that the Earth
was alive that night! My brother lives in Shrewsbuiy, which is much closer to the epicentre
than anywhere in Essex. However, I have it on good authority that it was felt in Collier
Row, just north of Romford, so perhaps it was felt over other parts of west Essex too. Of
course, it did not compare with the Great Earthquake that Colchester experienced in
April 1884, when a considerable amount of damage was done, particularly by chimneys
falling through roofs. The church tower at Langenhoe fell into the roof, a big house in
Great Wigborough sustained severe damage to the roof and upper storey, and the spire
of the congregational church at Lion Walk, Colchester, fell most dramatically into the
grave-yard and demolished many tombstones, and some masonry fell on to the roof and
damaged the inside of the building. There was great destruction of buildings in Wivenhoe,
Donyland and Mersea (extract from Gerald Lucy's 'Essex Rock', which is very much
recommended reading). In terms of damage caused, we have to bear in mind that this
relates both to the severity of the shocks, and the strength or otherwise of the buildings
concerned! Have you checked the state of the mortar on your chimney recently?
On 28"' September there was a fungus foray in Belhus Woods Country Park. Given the
drought for most of the month, and the consequent lack of fungi, it was no suiprise that
only three stalwarts turned up. Tony Boniface and Martin Gregory were the experts,
while I was the tour guide. We set off across the Romford Road to look at White Post
Wood and Warwick Wood, the latter being 'ancient semi-natural woodland', though
both are shown on old maps as having been woodland for at least 250 years. We looked
hard, and we found nearly 30 species in the course of about 4 hours, which was 5 or 10
times as many as I had expected. A number were mildews on dying leaves, pointed out
to us by Martin, but there were also some Russula parazurea and three different members
of the Genus Pluteus, namely cervinus, chrysophaeus and salicinus. The middle of
these three was new, but a disappointment, as we had previously supposed that these
were the rare P. leoninus. Examination of the cap cuticle with Tony's microscope revealed
the difference. The most uncommon of the day's findings was probably flie Macrolepiota
konradii, rather like a slightly smaller version of the well-known M. rhacodes. A big
thank you to both Martin and Tony for a day beyond all expectations.
Early in October the New Atlas of the British and Irish Flora came to my door, carried
with difficulty by a man labouring under the weight! Not only is it a fascinating volume
packed with interesting information, but a CD-Rom comes too, with all sorts of exciting
possibilities. The BSBI also distributed a publication about changes in the British flora
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 40, January 2003
11